Alaskan Highway - The 'ALCAN' - 2014

We’re currently in a place called Skagway which as it turns out is back in the USA and quite a bit has happened since the last post, so read on, but this one will be a tad longer so apologies up front.

The map is at the end of this by the way.

Continuing north up Hwy 97 from Barkerville we had become aware of 2 key things.  All the Provincial Parks (State Parks) in BC were still closed for the winter and by closed, the gates are locked and there was a public holiday long weekend looming.

After visiting a little town called Chetwynd and it’s fantastic wood carved sculptures, their Visitors Centre told us about a local park to free camp in until it opens on the long weekend, Cameron Lake.   They also warned us that it would be hard to get into many places including some RV parks over the long weekend so we figured that after a fairly long and very cold winter, people were certainly coming out to play. Well apart from being a really nice spot right on the waters edge and warm weather, we also got to observe the locals.

For hours, including until after sunset which is getting later and later now, they would turn up with their caravans, 5th wheelers and motorhomes, find a site, set themselves up including extending any slide-outs and placing tables outside.  Then off they would go, leaving everything as is until 2 days time when they would be back.

sunset at Lake Cameron

Dawson Creek was a destination we had been looking forward to reaching because it's here the Alaskan Highway, previously known as the ‘Alcan’ starts.  To learn more about this highway’s history, we visited the 2 places in Dawson Creek to do this but unfortunately, both were closed!

Located in the middle of a major intersection, for Dawson Creek anyway, stands proudly the famous Mile “0” Post and is apparently one of the most photographed objects in Canada. The Mile “0” Post has had its own chequered ‘career’ because the first post was erected in 1942 but only lasted until 1946 until a drunk driver hit it and stuffed it.  There was a second larger wooden post but it was subjected to numerous pranks so the steel post that actually stands today replaced it.  

There is also a Mile “0” Cairn in Dawson Creek which is the point the surveyors used as the actual starting point for the Alcan.  Confused… we were.

Well someone had to get their photograph taken with the Mile “0” post or get their photo taken after being hit by the traffic to reach it, so  Rob graciously volunteered to be the photographer.

Time for a few Alcan facts.  It was built for World War 2 due to concerns about Japanese attacks in Alaska, and work started in 1941 to build a highway 2,450 kms long through some of the more inhospitable country there is.  

It was completed in just over 8 months with 11,000 US troops and 16,000 US and Canadian civilians working on it.  They built 8 miles (13 kms) of road each day, there were 133 bridges constructed, some in just 3 days and 8,000 culverts installed.  

An amazing effort considering the gear they were using to achieve this.  The Alcan was opened to the public in 1948 and has become one of the ‘must do’ iconic drives in the world.

So that’s what we’re here to do… drive the Alcan which goes from Dawson Creek to near Fairbanks.  

This time in May, for heading up the Alcan, is considered early in the season, so the weather is likely to be changeable and places worth visiting may be closed for the winter,  or there is simply too much snow still on the ground.

So having found both Mile “0’s”, we started our Alcan journey and it wasn’t long before we detoured to the only remaining original all timber curved bridge built back in 1942.  It is called the Kiskatinaw Bridge and its big.

all timber construction

Continuing on, it quickly became obvious things were changing.  For a start, there were slightly fewer semis on the road wanting to get past and secondly, the number of animals seen on the side of the road began increasing.  For example, we had a 5 black bear and 1 moose day and the following day, more black bears and 1 brown black bear, yes brown.

brown black bear

Some of the early towns we passed through have interesting names reflecting the history in northern BC.  Names like Fort St John and Fort Nelson.  Both of the forts were established around 1805 by the Northwest Company as fur trading posts and Fort St John was closed for 40 years after a massacre of some of the inhabitants by local indians.

After staying in a few RV parks, there was a lot of motivation to find somewhere ‘bush’ to stay in as the availability of ‘boon docking’ sites had been limited to date.  After turning off the Alcan and a driving a few kilometres down a muddy dirt road due to the rain, we found the open Tetsa River Regional Park.  The rain eased up and then stopped overnight but next morning Homer’s heater was put to good use because it seemed abnormally cold.

Homer in Summit Pass - note beaver dam below

Back onto the Alcan we climbed our way into the Rocky Mountains and through beautiful Summit Pass where there was a light dusting of fresh overnight snow everywhere .  Tetsa River park was a mere 20 kms or so back down the road, no wonder it was cold.

The driving through the Rocky Mountains in this part of northern Canada is really very beautiful and this section of the Alcan south of Muncho Lake especially so.  Muncho Lake was pretty spectacular also, with hints of its green/blue colour beneath the 1-2m strip of unfrozen water near the shore.  It was the 15th May and this meant this Provincial Park was open which was great because the camping was right on the bank of the lake.  We heard of this lake via the blog of friends who had been here a few years back so now it was our turn.

Things here were also a bit different, apart from the layer of very white ice across its massive surface.  To start, there were  seagulls lying on the ice of the lakes surface, well they looked like seagulls.  Why would they want to lie on ice?

very weird

top rock is 'floating' just below the surface

Next were the ‘floating’ rocks!  After backing Homer in amongst some trees right next to the lake, it was off to explore and this was when we found ‘floating’ rocks.  In the ice, not far from the shore was a fresh looking circle of water and in the middle of the water was a rock lying very happily just under the surface.  In front of the ‘floating’ rock in the fresh strip of very clear water could be seen all the other rocks lying on the bottom.

The ‘floating’ rock was actually being held up by clear shards of ice about 6 cms thick.  Rob discovered its thickness by disturbing some closer to the shore and picking it up which lead to much complaining about how cold the water was.  What was she thinking anyway and its as close as she will ever come to a polar plunge.

The photography opportunities here were amazing, as they still were next morning when we woke to another very chilly morning.  We ventured outside to discover the fresh water near the shore from yesterday, now had a 1 cm blanket of re-frozen clear ice over it.

the clear water in front has new ice layer on it

We wandered up the highway further to a place we had also heard about from the same friends, but also by numerous other travellers beginning their own journey along the Alcan, Liard Hot Springs.  Before reaching the springs we were in for yet another experience this part of the country is warming up to throw our way.  We had seen a few highway warning signs and sure enough, heading their way south down the Alcan,  was a small herd of bison.

These are the huge herds early settlers talked about as they headed west into the interior of the USA.  By huge, some of these herds used to take literally days to pass.  So we stopped on the side of the road and watched them meander past us, not a care in the world and very slowly wander off, including a few new born bison.

Not very far from the hot springs we had our next ‘interesting’ experience and this time it involved Rob the ‘bear believer’ becoming the ‘bear whisperer’.  Till now when we saw a black bear we would pull over and wind down the window to take photos. The bears usually became nervous and made their way for the trees.  This time however as Rob begun to take some video, this bear gets up and walks straight over towards her open window.  

one black bear beneath 'bear whisperers' window

“Will you please put the window up!” or words similar to this came excitedly from her lips a few times and yep, it went up alright because the bear ended up sitting then lying directly underneath the window looking up at us.  Certainly got the adrenaline pump working.

It was now the long weekend and Liard Hot Springs is a Provincial Park, which means you can camp BUT all the camping areas were already reserved.  The choice then was to camp in the car park near the springs which we did for a night.

There is a 700m walk along a boardwalk over marshy ground leading to the springs and sitting in 40+C very clear water is a great way to relax, which we managed to do 3 times during our stay here. 

There is a layer of hot water on the surface and cooler water underneath and at the end of the springs at its source, it can be up to 53C.  Both of us managed to get up to that end, briefly, after a tip from another bather on how to do it.

After Liard we stayed in Watson Lake for a night, which is just over the border into the Yukon and  visited the Northern Lights Centre and spent time looking at some of the 70,000+ signs in the signpost forest.

The Yukon has a population of around 35,000 but a land mass of 483,450 sq km which simply means there are a lot of black and white spruce trees and not many people.  The Yukon has a large number of lakes and rivers and over the last week we have been using a few of them for camping, places like Big Creek, Teslin Lake and Tarfu Lake after looking at Snafu Lake.  

camping next to Big Creek

Tarfu is an acronym meaning - ‘Things are really f***** up’ and Snafu means - ‘Situation normal all f***** up’.   Many of the Yukon Government campgrounds next to these lakes are still closed but we have used them anyway and they supply firewood, so the campfires have been great during some colder weather.  The Lakes have also meant a little more wildlife.

So as I said at the beginning, we have detoured off the Alcan and in 2-3 days returning to it. We have travelled down the Klondike Hwy to reach Skagway which I will write about next post.

This map below shows our route from the Canada/USA border to where we are currently in Skagway, Alaska.










The second map simply shows the entire route we have taken since leaving San Francisco.

Yes there are more photos just click on the link below:

CLICK HERE for more photos - Starting up the Alcan 2014 

So what will happen after Skagway?

British Columbia - Canada 2014

Currently in Prince George, BC (British Columbia), Canada which also happens to be the largest city in northern BC.

We're not going to use multiple colours, takes too much time and reformatting of daily logs.  The yellow line is the USA/Canada border and where the red line ends is where we are at time of a post.

We crossed the border into Canada from the USA at Blaine which ended up being very uneventful.  Were expecting to be asked/checked about the food we were taking into Canada, but ended up having quite an interesting chat with the Customs guy about where we were heading and what to watch out for.  The only really official question we got was, “are you carrying any firearms”.

Followed Hwy 99 past Vancouver and kept going until Squamish, a mere 66 kms north of the capital, found an RV park located away from the town amongst the trees next to a river and settled in.

Until now we had both been very quiet photographically but whilst having breakfast outside, yes it was warm enough, we spotted these tiny little birds.  Hummingbirds, have seen them on TV with them hovering in front of flowers whilst feeding and these were Rufous hummingbirds to be exact thanks to a friend in Aust. who identified them for us.  When we say tiny, their bodies were about 4 cms long and a beak almost the same length but we managed to get a few keeper photos after many attempts.

We have been travelling along the ‘Sea to Sky Highway’ (Hwy 99) which is renowned for its scenery and we’re starting to get used to the road signs with words like ‘turnout’ or warning signs showing pictures of deer and more recently, moose.  After a stop off in Whistler, we continued on up into the mountains where the road narrowed significantly and the gradients increased, up to 13-14% in places both upwards and down.  We saw our first semi frozen lake,  stopped briefly at a ‘log jam’ which is literally what it is and spent time at the magnificent green Lake Seton.

Lake Seton

From Squamish we have started to slow ourselves down, travelling much shorter distances on a daily basis.  After a few overnight stops along now Hwy 97, we made a detour into the historic town of Barkerville.  This town is a complete historic town of 125 buildings and opens for business on the 15th May.  Barkerville was created due to gold and the gold rush which was triggered in 1862.

Despite it being closed, we visited anyway and were very pleased we did.  First there were virtually no other tourists wandering around looking at all the old buildings and secondly, because we are up this way early in the season, there was still a lot of snow on the ground, especially in front of and between many of the buildings as can be seen below.

Barkerville

On our way into and out from Barkerville, we started to see more wildlife.  There had been warning signs for deer and Moose and any talk of bears with Rob generally included, “we won’t see any bears!”.  Well we did see bears, 2 of them in fact, black bears quite nonchalantly walking down the side of the road and we also had to stop to let a caribou meander across in front of us.

The 15th May seems to be ‘the’ date for openings because all the Provincial Parks, like our State Parks, are closed for the winter and open shortly on the 15th of May.  We’re keen to stay in these parks further along the road.

Some 50 kms on our way back to Hwy 97, we found our first ‘boondocking’ spot down a forestry road amongst the trees next to a river.  Boondocking in Aussie terms means ‘free camping’, so here we were, in the wilderness, by ourselves, oh and probably the bears.  Funny thing now with Rob, she has become a ‘bear believer’ and not massively keen to wander too far away from Homer, well at least currently.

Homer 'boon docking'

Not long after setting up and collecting some firewood, we were visited by a Recreation Officer and Police Officer working together for the day.  After the pleasantries were over they asked, “are you hunting and do you have any firearms?”.  After our “no” response, “are you going fishing”, again a polite “no”.  They wanted to know where we were from considering Homer is sporting Alaskan number plates.  “Australia”, which caught them a bit short.  From then we compared notes on gun licensing in our respective countries and they told us about the current open hunting season on black bears amongst other animals.  “What do you hunt black bears for?” we asked,  “they make good hams and sausages!”was the reply!.  The police officer also told us about a young male grizzly he had seen recently not all that far from where we are.

For more photos of ‘Into British Columbia’ just click on the link below:

CLICK HERE for more photos - Into British Columbia 2014

We’re still travelling in very civilised parts of northern Canada with plenty of road traffic and small towns along the way.  Lets see what the next post brings.

Californian Coast - USA 2014

‘On the road again - 
Just can’t wait to get on the road again…
Goin’ places that I’ve never been.
Seein’ things that I may never see again’.

Appropriate words in Willie Nelson’s song and its what we’re currently doing quite literally, having picked up our rental RV in San Francisco 3 days ago and heading north.  San Fran was experiencing a heat wave and we spent a few days sightseeing enjoying this delightful city’s numerous attractions.

Riding the cable cars to the harbour with their bells being rung whilst standing on the sideboard as we went down narrow streets and their older timber homes, Union Square, looking out to the sentinel of Alcatraz, Pier 39 including its seals, Fishermans Wharf and seafood chowder then the surrounds of the Golden Gate Bridge.  

Our time here also allowed us to get over any jet lag before taking on the busy freeways.

We’re calling our RV ‘Homer’ as we will be wandering around in it for awhile and we have driven up the coast, past Portland, Oregon and are now in Washington State staying directly opposite the Columbia River. We deliberately got here pretty quickly but will slow things down now so as to enjoy what is to come.  The map below shows where we have gone so far.

A few things will be a little different this time round in the posts to come.  We do not intend letting you all know ahead of time where we plan to go, things may change, preferring to bring you along with us with each post accompanied by an updated map like the one above, where the red line shows where we have gone since the previous post.

Hope this makes sense and will only keep the maps going if the GPS ‘thingy’ stays nice or we lose track of it all, we are Geripackers remember.

Will keep including photos of what we see, do and experience, either embedded within the post, or by using a separate link within the post as previously.

Homer in redwood country

In the few days since leaving San Fran we have been learning the idiosyncrasies of Homer, kitting ourselves up with food and other necessities for RV living, along with getting into the groove of driving on the right hand side of the road without hitting anything or anybody.

The highlights, apart from San Fran and its atmosphere, has no doubt been driving along the Californian coastline before heading inland through old growth redwood forests and through/across Grants Pass.

Rob at 'Big Tree'

Those redwoods trees are big, very big, usually growing over 90 m in height and when we were walking in amongst them in Redwood National & State Parks, we simply kept looking upwards at these monsters.  We did go searching for one tree the Rangers had told us about, ‘Big Tree’ which stands at 92.7 m high and has a 6.4 m diameter.  It’s also around 1,500 yrs old!  

Apologies for all the stats. but these trees are impressively big.

So far we have been staying in commercial RV parks but this will change in the weeks to come to include staying in State and National Parks as well as ‘free camping’ where we can because Homer is quite self sufficient.  

The commercial RV parks are all different, for example last night we stayed in one where a drive-in theatre was previously.  The screen still exists, so each night like last night they show a movie and we listened to the sound on Homer’s radio.  Some innovative recycling we thought.

movies through Homer's window

Till next time…

For more photos of ‘The Californian Coast’ just click on the link below:

CLICK HERE for more photos - Up the Californian Coast 2014